MARGINS Student and Community Reception

The MARGINS Reception at Fall AGU is an open event, welcoming participants in MARGINS-funded studies and all others with an interest in the program. This year, posters presented by entrants in the annual MARGINS Student Prize will be on display throughout the reception. Students are encouraged to use this as event as an opportunity further share their results and to interact with a wide spectrum of MARGINS Scientists.

There will be ample time to mingle and discuss the student posters, with food and drink courtesy of Boston University and the new Boston MARGINS Office. Among those present will be Geoff Abers (MARGINS Chair), members of the MARGINS Steering Committee, and Program Managers for MARGINS from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Geoff Abers and NSF Program Manager, Bilal Haq, will use this event as an opportunity to welcome those present, introduce the new MARGINS Office, and update the community on MARGINS funding and other issues, including a discussion of the recent change to the Red Sea status and other ancillary sites.

Efforts to reach InterMARGINS and MARGINS-Subduction Factory science objectives in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana focus site have been enhanced by recent NOAA “Submarine Ring of Fire” investigations and the Japan Continental Shelf Project. Geoscientific studies in the region are being further stimulated by a set of IODP preproposals for drilling in the IBM arc system. These
complementary efforts can be stimulated in turn by involving the MARGINS Subduction Factory community. This mini-workshop will inform the three communities of these efforts, solicit feedback, and explore possible synergies. The conveners also hope to present the status of a proposal for a future ~3 day MARGINS/IFREE Workshop to Integrate Subduction Factory and IODP Studies in the Izu-Bonin-Marianas Arc System.

This mini-workshop shares its location with the MARGINS
Middle America Subduction Zone mini-workshop following immediately after. Food and drink will be provided at both events.

This public mini-workshop will focus on interconnections between the dynamics of both seismic and aseismic slip processes and along-strike variations in subduction fluxes (fluids, sediments, and chemical species) though the Middle America arc and fore-arc. How do the physical and hydrologic structure and composition of the incoming plate and fore-arc control both fluxes and seismogenic processes along the Middle America Trench? Can these controls be quantified sufficiently to make predictions from Central America to other non-accretionary subduction zones? Topics addressing these questions will include: physical, geophysical and
hydrological properties of the system; material/chemical fluxes; integration of onland and offshore studies; relation of laboratory and numerical studies to field observations; and development of new technologies and methodologies.

This mini-workshop immediately follows the MARGINS Izu-Bonin-Marianas mini-workshop in the same location. Food and drink will be provided at both events.

We will be holding a planning session to discuss the creation of a proposal to carry out a 3D seismic reflection study of the Costa Rica Integrated Drilling Program (CRISP) region offshore south-western Costa Rica. Phase A of this program (involving non-riser drilling) has been approved by the IODP Science Planning Committee, and Phase B (involving riser drilling) has been rated highly but is not ready for scheduling due to the lack of 3D seismic data to guide the drilling. The planning session will seek to sort out such questions as:

What are the major scientific questions and the first order targets of the 3D program?

Should acquisition be by industry or by the US Academic ship Marcus Langseth?

How should the processing be carried out?

What ancillary programs can be carried out in association with this work?

Click here for more information on the MARGINS Prize for Outstanding Student Presentation Click here for a listing of MARGINS-related sessions at AGU 2006Click here for the 2006 AGU Fall Meeting homepage